On Nov. 25, the World Wrestling Entertainment Universe, better known as WWE, was left in absolute disbelief at the All-State Center in Chicago when Phil Brooks, also known as CM Punk, made his return to the Squared Circle after nine years away from the company.
But that was not the only return that night. The Viper. The Apex Predator.
Randy Orton made his return after a year and a half away from the company, and fans could not be happier.
CM Punk originally left WWE in 2014 after he had disagreements with the management and the creative storylines. Once he left, he had a short stint with Mixed Martial Arts or MMA. That did not last very long.
One he was ready, he joined a rival wrestling company, All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He was one of the top stars of the company before leaving the company in September after some disputes backstage during the All-In pay-per-view.
Speculations started to brew if he would return at Survivor Series in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. But even WWE themselves said that CM Punk would not be coming back.
“I was flabbergasted when CM Punk walked into that arena in Chicago. They (WWE) said themselves that CM Punk would not return at Survivor Series,” Daniel Killian said. “But he did, he made his return, and the crowd went crazy. Loudest Pop I have ever heard personally.”
A pop is how loud the crowd reacts when something happens.
Punk returned to Monday Night Raw as well on Nov. 27 and addressed the crowd.
“I didn’t know how I was gonna react, and I didn’t know how it was gonna go, but this made me feel like my old self because this is where I belong,” Punk said on live television.
That was not the only bright spot about the weekend. The Legend Killer, Randy Orton, made his long-awaited return during the War Games match at Survivor series.
Orton has been out of action since May of 2022, when he was injured by the Bloodline, consisting of Roman Reigns, Sami Zayne, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa.
During a tag team match-up in which Orton was with his fellow Raw Tag Team Champion Matt Riddle, they were taking on the Smackdown Tag Team Champions, The Usos, in a unification match to see who would become the undisputed tag team champions in the WWE.
However, this would be Orton’s last match for 18 months.
Orton received a double back fusion on his spine, and his return was questionable. No one expected it before the Raw before Survivor Series on Nov. 20, when it would be announced that he would return as the fifth member of team Cody Rhodes in the Wargames match, along with world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes.
“You know they announced it earlier in the week but have been hinting for weeks. Saying Cody (Rhodes) is bringing in an old friend, so I wasn’t so surprised. But it’s the Viper, you gotta be hyped a little,” Killian said.
The highlight of the match would be when Rollins and Zayn would throw Judgement Day member JD McDonagh off the top of the steel cage and Orton would hit a nasty RKO, and then pinned McDonagh for the win.
There was another point in the match when Orton was getting ready for revenge on Jey Uso for putting Orton into what was thought to be retirement, but then Uso turned around and saw that Orton did not do it.
In the following episode of Monday Night Raw, Orton and Uso met backstage for a conversation that cleared the air.
“Uce, I’ve seen how the last months have been going, and have you had Cody’s back…My business is with the Bloodline. As long as you’re out of the Bloodline, then we are good,” Orton said on the Nov. 27 episode of Raw.
“It was a good RKO, I’m putting 3rd all-time behind the shooting star press RKO, and the best one has to be the curb stomp RKO on Seth Rollins at Wrestle-mania 31,” Killian said.
The WWE universe is super excited about how the next few months are going to go and is excited for the next pay-per-view event, the Royal Rumble on Jan. 27.